Optical imaging and patterning can be limited by a far-field diffraction limit. The far-field diffraction limit can limit imaging patterns or creating patterns that are spaced by a distance closer than approximately λ/2, where λ is a wavelength of an illumination. In far-field diffraction, a diffraction pattern can be viewed at a long distance from the diffracting object, or the diffraction pattern can be viewed at the focal plane of an imaging lens.